Russia: genocide and fascism loom

Lisa Taylor reports on the situation in Russian and the launch of a new solidarity campaign.

A new campaign, International Solidarity with Workers in Russia (ISWR) has been set up to unite the labour movement and socialists of all backgrounds in support of the progressive anti-racist wings of the Russian labour movement. It has been launched because the financial and economic crisis has brought on an even more catastrophic political crisis.

Yeltsin, once again undergoing emergency treatment in hospital, is a dying man. But something else is dying too - passivity. Ordinary Russians are no longer willing to work for months on end without pay, to be paid in coats or coffins instead of cash, or to stand and watch their families face this fierce Russian winter without fuel or food, while their society descends into chaos. The average life expectancy in the country is now less than it was in the nineteenth century. The dramatic increase in strikes and occupations last year demonstrates for sure that the long awaited fightback has begun.

For some years now the restoration of capitalism in Russia, lovingly guided by the IMF, has been creating massive wealth for a tiny few and deep poverty for almost everyone else. Russia's industrial base, once mighty, has been eroded dramatically and self-sufficiency has been replaced by 40% reliance on (western) imports. The massive oil and gas resources are largely exported, while whole cities have had their electricity cut off, unable to pay the bills. The advanced capitalist countries want Russia to become a semi-colony.

In August last year the crisis reached a peak when Russia defaulted on its debt. Overnight, ordinary workers, already impoverished, found their living standards shockingly halved. But the middle classes also saw their savings hit, and rich tycoons found to their horror that they were unable to control the crisis as the rouble underwent devaluation. With the IMF refusing further loans, the rulers found something else passing from their grasp - political power. Pro-IMF Yeltsin was unable to force through his appointment of Chernomyrdin as prime minister, and was forced to accept Primakov, the choice of the Communist-dominated Duma - lower house of the Russian parliament.

Yeltsin now stands at less than one percent in the polls. He is in every respect a spent force. The only political party of any size that enjoys mass electoral support right now is the Communist Party, the CPRF. The obvious failure of capitalism to benefit the masses has created a ground swell of anti-capitalist feelings and this is reflected in sections of the base of the CPRF.

But its leaders have refused to blame capitalist restoration for the crisis, finding a "safer" scapegoat instead - the Jews. So, on 23rd December 1998, CPRF chairman Zyuganov took the incredible step of blaming the "zionisation of the governmental authorities of Russia" for the "mass impoverishment and extinction of its population". "Zionism", he declared (in code for Jews) was worse than Hitler's fascism and "strove for world supremacy". In case anyone could possibly mistake his message, he clarified that this was "not a struggle against the state of Israel"(!)

These shocking statements come against a background of unprecedented collaboration between CPRF leaders and openly fascist parties such as Russian National Unity. In some CPRF-controlled regions, nazi militia have been drafted in as auxiliary police and given immense powers, terrifying local Roma, Caucasians, Jews and other "non-Russians". In Krasnodar, governed by a fascist-Communist-ultra-nationalist coalition, 12,000 Meskhetian Turks have found themselves stripped of all civic rights. Dark-skinned Caucasians are abused and attacked, synagogues burned. Leading Communist MP's have publicly called for the extermination of Jews. If nothing is done, pogroms will surely follow.

It is said that politics abhors a vacuum. In a crisis of this severity, if socialism does not come to the fore, its most appalling opposites will.

There is some light in the darkness. For example, at last month's Congress of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, the delegates of several branches stormed out in protest at the racist statements of the Leningrad reps. The Moscow branch has now left the League, urging others to follow. Some colleges have refused to teach new antisemitic schoolbooks, and young people have engaged in hand to hand battles with armed fascists.

In recent months workers have taken to the streets in unprecedented numbers and strikes abound. Workers have blocked the trans-Siberian railway, occupied many workplaces and picketed parliament. Many even in the CPRF oppose the Zyuganov-Primakov pro-market partnership. But this has been protest without a clear political direction.

At present the balance of forces is grim. Without immediate practical support and solidarity from workers' organisations internationally, the progressive wing of Russian labour is likely to be swept away by an avalanche of genocidal racism and "communist"and fascist collaboration.

Russia is a vast territory stretching from Europe to Asia, with a 150 million population and immense resources - and the world's second nuclear power. Dictatorship in Russia will have far-reaching implications for the whole planet. Our new campaign has already received many pledges of support both here and internationally and we urge all LLB readers to support this vital campaign.

ISWR's next meeting is on 11th February in London. For more details please contact: ISWR, Box R, 46 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8RZ or email: antek5@aol.com

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